Athletic Bilbao’s movement v Sporting

April 26, 2012

The starting line-ups

Athletic Bilbao are through to the Europa League final after a 3-1 second leg victory over Sporting Lisbon at the San Mames.

As is typical of Marcelo Bielsa sides, Athletic dominated possession and spent much of the time in the opposition third of the pitch, but didn’t convert their goalscoring opportunities well enough. On the balance of play, it was crazy that they needed to wait until a couple of minutes before full-time for the crucial goal, scored by Fernando Llorente – they should have had the game wrapped up at an earlier stage. In fairness, they went cautious after half-time as they were in an identical position to Real Madrid the night before – having lost the first leg 2-1, they were 2-1 up. The tie was even on both goals and away goals. If Athletic had scored a goal it would have been worth one – if they’d conceded one, it would have effectively been worth one and a half. Were it not for that, they probably would have attacked with more intent.

That said, credit should go to Sporting coach Ricardo Sa Pinto for a clever change at half-time – he took off Mati Fernandez, his number ten, and brought on Daniel Carrico as an additional central midfielder. That meant Andre Martins moving forward to the top of the triangle, though the midfield was now more compact and less vulnerable to Athletic’s movement.

That movement was the key feature of the game, and was as good as it’s been for Athletic all season. ZM has written on Athletic in general terms before (see here, here and here), so instead, this is a look at eight different types of movement they do very well within their system, to get players into space.

Movement 1

Without the ball, Sporting used Mati Fernandez and Ricky van Wolfswinkel together on the halfway line, stopping the Athletic players coming forward with the ball. There was a particular effort to stop Javi Martinez moving forward, since he is particularly good at playing the first pass forward into the attackers, and there was one moment in the first half when Martinez got caught in possession when trying to dribble the ball forward, leaving Athletic exposed to a quick attack.

Therefore, Ander Iturraspe simply dropped into the defence, turning Athletic into a back three, allowing the two centre-backs to spread, and then both Martinez and Fernando Amorebieta could move forward and hit long diagonals towards Llorente.

Movement 2

The second movement also involved Iturraspe, who was the game’s key player positionally – dropping deep to create supremacy and then charging forward into the attack to play key passes. In that respect, he did something similar to Toni Kroos at the Bernabeu, albeit in a deeper role. His job was also similar to the way Alex Song plays at Arsenal.

Sa Pinto told his two holding midfielders, Stijn Schaars and Martins, to stick very deep to Ander Herrera and Iker Muniain, practically man-marking them. This was a problem when Herrera and Muniain dropped into deeper or wider positions – the midfield became opened up for Iturraspe to storm through. With Fernandez and van Wolfswinkel watching the centre-backs, he went forward untracked.

Movement 3

This also involved Herrera and Muniain moving deep – but this time, it created space for Andoni Iraola and Jon Aurtenetxe to cut into, from the full-back positions. This was particularly the case for Iraola, who was up against Diego Capel, the less solid defensively of Sporting’s wingers – and he made this movement in the build-up to the second Athletic goal, scored by Ibai Gomez.

Another way to exploit the space in behind the holders – the movement in that zone was the most important part of the tactical battle. With Schaars and Martins moving up high, Athletic’s wide players could narrow and work the ‘red zone’ in front of the defence.

Movement 5

With Muniain deployed in the centre as a ‘central winger’, rather than out on the flanks, Athletic had more lateral movement from that position than if they’d used Munain on the wing and (the suspended) Oscar De Marcos as an attacking midfielder – he’s much more of a vertical player.

Therefore, Muniain (or Ibai or Susaeta, when they switched positions) could exploit the gaps between the Sporting centre-backs and full-backs, when the Athletic wingers moved wide and stretched the play. Then, Muniain would combine with one of the wingers and overload Sporting in wide zones, before crossing.

Movement 6

Essentially a combination of number five and number three – the Athletic wingers drag the Sporting full-backs wide, the full-backs cut in diagonally into that space.

Movement 7

This is where Llorente became involved – although he often drifted into the channels for long balls from the back, he also dropped deep. This was evident for that Ibai goal, when he moved towards the ball, picked it up, and slipped the ball into Ibai moving towards goal.

Movement 8

Equally, that situation could be replicated with Munain playing as a second striker, looking for knock-downs from Llorente, and to exploit the space created when Llorente pulled Anderson Polga out of the defence.

38 Responses to “ Athletic Bilbao’s movement v Sporting ”

guil9 on April 26, 2012 at 11:08 pm

Brilliant Bielsa !!!!! I don’t want to break the Bilbao’s moment but… Would Bielsa and Barcelona make a good partnership ZM ?

Greg on April 26, 2012 at 11:26 pm

Seems to me the key factor holding back Barcelona — which was particularly evident against Chelsea — is their difficulty creating space to attack against a disciplined side defending deep. I don’t know whether Bielsa’s methods are the cure to this problem, but this post certainly suggests he’d be on the right track.

Bielsa to Barca; Guardiola to England. That’s got my vote.

guil9 on April 27, 2012 at 12:05 am

Agree with your vote. I would like to see Pep training England… Pacey, technical players like Walcott, Adam & Glen Johnson, ROONEY (English Messi), Baines, Wilshere suit to his style… And are also capable to press and run any other national team.

Pirlo on April 27, 2012 at 2:24 am

Wilshere aside, none of the aforementioned players could interpret a technical style of play. I’m sorry if that’s a sweeping generalisation of English/British players, but I’d wager that many agree with me.

Remember, this is a country whose fans questioned Capello when he gave Wilshere the
‘Makelele-role’, completely ignoring the fact that someone with his technique and ball-retention skills is ideal in the central third (pushing on a la Xavi), as opposed to starting in the opposition third i.e., a number 10.

At a push, Lampard and Ashley Cole could do a good job in a possession-based team, but Guardiola would need more than that.

Jose3 on April 27, 2012 at 3:50 pm

I agree England would have no chance of playing a similar style to Barca and that Wilshere is probably our most Barca type player but he’s not a holder, although he can play that role. He’s best when he’s given some licence to drive forward from midfield.

I think Bielsea is to radical in his approach to be coach of Barca. But I hope I am wrong.

Juvefan on April 26, 2012 at 11:22 pm

Masterpiece!I wonder how Bielsa managed to teach his players for only 6 months,and now he is up to make a double!Clearly,this triumph is due to Bielsa’s work.Bilbao don’t have some amazing players,they have players that Bielsa put in the right place and made them a spectacular team!

John (Drake44444) on April 27, 2012 at 12:31 pm

That’s not true at all. Bilbao are coming into a golden age. Llorente, San Jose, Martinez, Muniain, de Marcos are all great and either Spanish NT players or will be.

Juvefan on April 27, 2012 at 5:56 pm

Yes,now they are popular,but before Bielsa they were uknown(without Llorente).

unclesam on April 28, 2012 at 8:47 am

Eh, San José played for Liverpool, Real Madrid & Barcelona have been interested in Martinéz for years, Muniain is probably the most talented Spanish youngster at the moment, together with Isco & Ander. If you follow La Liga, you´d know about all of these players but if you don´t, of course you wouldn´t. Just as most people don´t really care about Gaston Ramirez or Balzaretti, unless they follow Serie A.

kuii on April 27, 2012 at 6:27 pm

Well, that’s what Bielsa do, create players. Wherever he goes suddelny appears a bunch of good players (coincidence?). IE: Mascherano is not that good but he worked really well on Bielsa’s Argentina (way better than in barcelona), and in that time Argentina’s team had an awesome generation.
Same happened in Chile’s selection later. Many players came out of there as part of an awesome genertion too.
Same is happening in Bilbao.
I think that happens because Bielsa doesn’t like “stars”, he likes young unknown people wich he can model, squeezing them to the max.
Said that, and going to another point, if Bielsa goes to barcelona, there would be a lot of new players from there.

ZM-one of the best pieces you’ve done this season, IMO. Enjoyed it greatly. Just a terrific analysis of what was the central force in the match and what’s at the heart of this Athletic project-their perpetual motion machine of a side.

It was very interesting in the first half to see how Sporting looked to close down Martinez. It bothered Athletic initially before adjustments were made and also demonstrated the value of having a CB who is adept in possession for a side that looks to attack as fast as Athletic does with men up field.

Closing down Martinez though came at a real cost, as Sporting lost compactness in midfield making them prone to dribble penetration and rapid transitions in that zone. Once Athletic found even a small gap in space in between the upfield defenders and the deeper holding players they were able to either attack at speed or send in accurate long balls to Llorente who just had a sublime central striker match.

Sa Pinto’s changes at half time helped solidify the midfield zone between the upfield players and the holding mids. But then Athletic just varied their movement and route of attack.

A wonderful match. Brilliantly done by Bielsa. Remarkable to think back to how Athletic struggled to open the season and where they are now, let alone where they were a year ago headed into those tumultuous summer elections.

Highly entertaining match. The final will be a treat.

Jarno on April 26, 2012 at 11:46 pm

Brilliant write up btw. Lovely to see the different movements summed up.

Would’ve liked to see how the midfield diamond “fixed” the vulnerability to this movement.

Anonymous on April 27, 2012 at 12:10 am

What about Sá Pinto? Does he not deserve some credit also for being able to do quite well against a Bielsa side? Especially since he has only been coaching at the professional level for only a few weeks…

David on April 27, 2012 at 12:46 am

Agree totally, did you see the embarressingly syncophantic channel 5 coverage? At the end Jim Rosenthal asked Stan to say even a couple of words about Sporting and he proceeded t talk even more about Athletic.
If Bielsa is indeed a genius what about Sa Pinto matching him over the 2 legs? Sonething Sir Alex singularly failed to do.

Anonymous on April 27, 2012 at 1:09 am

Haha. I actually didn’t happen to catch that nor have I heard any other commentaries on him but I did feel he had done pretty well over the two legs. I figured perhaps I was just seeing things through a colored lens since I am a Sporting CP fan but reading the analysis you made a few comments below made me feel better so I appreciate you having posted that here. It definitely was an exciting match to watch and I feel the organization of both teams certainly contributed to that.

David on April 27, 2012 at 2:12 am

Is Sa Pinto going to be offerred the job on a permanent basis do you think? He has to be surely?
Are you in Lisbon?

Anonymous on April 27, 2012 at 2:39 am

I’m not in Lisbon but I do follow the club pretty closely and I know he currently has a contract until the end of next season. He’s extremely popular with the fans as well which I don’t think can’t be said of the current president. In fact, I believe Sá Pinto is probably the only reason why the current direction hasn’t been pressured to leave the club yet. He picked up a broken team and really salvaged what was rapidly becoming a disastrous season. So I really don’t think they will be sacking him any time soon and this, in my opinion, is good news for Sporting.

Clarence on April 27, 2012 at 12:18 am

Hope Bielsa will become the next coach of Barcelona, as his spare-man and heavy pressing approach suit the Blaugrana well. Pep, like the last two years of Rijkaard, has completely ruined Barca’s season by frequently playing 3-4-3 regardless of opponents’ shape , as everyone knows that 3-4-3 is only effective against 4-4-2.

As I mentioned before, Pep is clearly out of his depth, and after these disgraceful defeats he should be replaced at once

Jake Undy (AUS) on April 27, 2012 at 6:20 am

Bit harsh….

If Pep stays on for next season he’ll still win a stack of trophies. One season without many trophies and you’d give him the axe! Clearly not an Arsenal fan!

Varun on May 1, 2012 at 9:12 pm

Actually if Barca wins on 25th May, it would be 4th Trophy this season for Pep.

2 Super Cups, Fifa Club WC being others.

John on April 27, 2012 at 7:18 am

Out of his depth? Who do you think was managing when Barca won everything? Literally every single available trophy

You want Bielsa in to AVOID the 3-4-3? Have you every watched Bielsa?

Clarence on April 27, 2012 at 7:29 am

Bielsa’s spare man approach works according to his opponents, which means he will play two defenders against a striker, and three defenders against two strikers. Bielsa has shown this when he played against United in Europa, as well as in his World Cup campaign.

On the other hand, Pep has used 3-4-3 far too many times against a lone striker formation, with the likes of Valencia, Sevilla, Real Madrid and Chelsea. As the result, Pep has dropped too many points throughout the season, not to mention the disastrous results recently

iden on April 30, 2012 at 1:27 pm

13 trophies in 4 seasons, possibly 14 if he wins the Copa and you’re calling Pep “out of his depth”.

I had a real chuckle too when I saw the “out of his depth” comment. About a manager that has inspired so much fear in all of his rivals! I seem to recall that the 3-4-3 beat Madrid at the Bernabeu (I believe Higuain was the lone) , Milan in the San Siro (Ibra was the lone) and there were many other “big” games.

David on April 27, 2012 at 12:28 am

Excellent generic piece on the movements Athletic use though I actually think that, given how outstanding Athletic are at this, Sporting coped very well defensively. Seldom was the backline dangerously exposed – completely different to the 2 games against Manchester united for example.
Sa Pinto had put one over on Bielsa in Lisbon who was able to make adjustments here particularly in playing the ball out of defence as noted in the article.

However, for me the key difference was how Athletic improved without the ball. In the 1st leg Sporting transition play from defence to attack was excellent and they ran Athletic ragged at times. Tonight Athletic were able to break up these flowing moves repeatedly in the band between the half way line and say 10 metres inside Sporting’s half.

Sporting lacked the option of the ball over the top as they had no real pace in behind. Maybe Carillo should have played instead of Fermandez? They were nullified in the second half. Sporting also really missed the suspended Izmailov who is both pact and excellent at the transition game.

The performance of the home team in the second leg is freshest in the mind but Sporting will be kicking themselves for not winning by a far bigger margin at home. This was a very even tie over the 2 legs.

David on April 27, 2012 at 12:38 am

re the Izmailov comment, that should be Pacy not Pact – stupid of me to try and post from a smartphone!

lol on April 27, 2012 at 1:04 am

So much praise for Bielsa, Sporting matched bilbao every second of the game. With a different ref somethings would be different. Not saying bilbao wouldnt win but cmon, that first goal? Really? the constant fouls and no cards? meh…

David on April 27, 2012 at 1:04 am

Ironically, and it’s a year too late now, but the best place for Bielsa could have Sporting. He would have had the conveyor belt of talented, hungry, tactically and technically strong players from the academy and mixed in a few choice South American imports oh well

Barcafan on April 27, 2012 at 8:19 am

I honestly think Bilbao is the best place for Bielsa . The players are just as technically gifted and hungry as the Sporting guys. And Bilbao having physically fantastic players makes it easier for Bielsa to implement his idealistic tactics of constant high pressure from individual players (not pressuring with groups of players to space the opponent out, like Barcelona do). One can argue that Real Madrid is more suited for Bielsa than Barcelona is.

david on April 27, 2012 at 11:42 am

… but he can’t add a few South American’s into the mix at Bilbao which he’d have been well placed to do.

That was an excellent match.
As much as I love Bielsa, I also want to congratulate and appreciate Sporting and their coach. They were almost up there with Blbao and were much much better than how MU played.

Real pleasure to watch this game and massive credit to both teams. Lot of love for Bielsa on here (rightly so) but am I the only one who wants him to stay where he is? It’d be a real shame to see this team get broken up, like Newcastle in the PL…Damn you Football! leave them alone!!

petr on April 27, 2012 at 12:58 pm

I hope that on the barge after the Uefa Cup final, Bielsa will announce he is staying as will all Athletic’s players. Then on the barge in 2013, they will be celebrating with a different European trophy